Music News: Kanye West, John Lennon, DJ Hero

Kanye West will appear as failed rapper ‘MC Kenny West’ on Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show in 2010. We’re not sure if there’s room in the studio for the voice actors and Kanye’s ego, but it won’t be a case of art imitating life…

John Lennon’s teenage years are about to get the silver-screen treatment courtesy of artist/director Sam Taylor-Wood. The script for Nowhere Boy was written by Matt Greenhalgh (who also penned the Joy Division biopic Control) and based on the memoirs of Lennon’s half-sister Julia Baird.

DJ Hero might be delayed – game developers Genius Products is suing Activision for sabotaging their plans to make Scratch: The Ultimate DJ. Activision recently bought over Genius which makes the whole thing that much messier. If Activision wins, it means anyone can be a ‘DJ’ while everyone with Serato and a laptop gets instant street cred. DJ Hero features deck legends like ZTrip, DJ Shadow, and maybe Daft Punk and Mixmaster Mike. Stay in the loop at www.twitter.com/DJhero.

Diplo

Diplo is releasing a quasi-dancehall record with Switch under project name Major Lazer; guest drops include MIA, Santogold, Busy Signal and more. The Philly-bred DJ is also on production duty for Lil’ Jon’s new album (yayuh!) and pottymouthed princess Amanda Blank’s debut, I Love You.

In one of the best decisions made in soundtrack history, TR2N will be scored by the oh-so apropos Daft Punk. It won’t be out ’til 2011, giving retro-obsessed hipsters more time to watch the original TRON over and over ad nauseum.

In the studio

• OutKast 
• Radiohead 
• Slayer

New album releases

• Fischerspooner, Entertainment, 4 May
• Peaches, I Feel Cream, 4 May
• Diamond Watch Wrists, Ice Capped at Both Ends, 5 May
• Tori Amos, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, 19 May